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I found this fairly tough, and there are still three places where the answer is clear, but I cannot fully explain the clue. Doubtless help will be coming shortly.

The handling of the theme, Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side of the Moon, which appears as the answer to 4/9/19, is remarkable in that the titles of all but one of the tracks appear in the clues (I have coloured them pink); the remaining one is TIME, the answer to 2D. Also the ‘prism’ is 23A is the album’s cover art. Thanks to Aoxomoxoa for pointing out that TIME is not only the answer to 2D but also appears in the clue for 22D, so that all the tracks are in the clues – quite an accomplishment.

Across

8.

Atrocious shield ivy cut off(8)

DEVILISH

An anagram (‘off’) of ‘shield iv[y]’ with the second word shortened (‘cut’).

9.

See 4

-

See 4

10.

Eclipsefell (4)

HIDE

Double definition. Fell = hide as an animal’s pelt.

11.

Takeaway, say, at home — order main from specials board? (6,4)

INDIAN MEAL

A charade of IN (‘at home’) + an envelope (‘from’??) of IANM, an anagram (‘order’) of ‘main’ in DEAL (‘board’). The elements are there, but I cannot put them together satisfactorily.

12.

Having an unoriginal experience for all to see — against a Jedi’s short return (4,2)

An envelope (‘inside’) of E (‘ecstasy’) in BRI, from ‘br[a]i[n]’with the a and n removed (‘having dropped an’); and repeated (‘twice’). There have been complaints before about similar cases where the removed letters are not contiguous, but I find it acceptable to read it as ‘having dropped a, n’. It violates Truth in Punctuation, but that is a rule notable for being broken, often to good effect.

I do not have the slightest idea how Katie Price comes into this, unless it reflects a certain gusto in her handling of her vital statistics.

16.

Eskimo rolls in way where it’s most difficult to breathe? (8)

SMOKIEST

An envelope (‘in’) of MOKIES, an anagram (‘rolls’) of ‘Eskimo’ in ST (street, ‘way’). As an Eskimo roll is a manoeuvre in kayaking in which the paddler recovers from capsizing by conpleting a full rotation under water, the surface is most apposite.

18.

Score recorders almost speak to me in resurrecting New York line (8)

TALLYMEN

A charade of TAL[k] (‘almost speak’) + an envelope (‘in’) of ‘me’ in LYN, a reversal (‘resurrecting’) of NY L (‘New York line’).

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2012 at 4:04 am and is filed under Guardian.
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PeterO; Great job. Thanks. I wondered what the ‘right?’ at the end of of the main clue was for! Only now do I see that it’s telling me that there’s a theme to this puzzle and this is it. Very clever. I have heard of the album but never heard it so your identification of the tracks explains why I found so many of the surfaces somewhat contrived.

OVERSTEP: I think the cameras look OVER a street (ST) and record is EP.

AGGRESSING: I’m sorry to say that applying oneself gives ADDRESSING and then we change the cup size DD to GG.

Thanks Peter. The Dark Side of the Moon is not any old album – it was in the charts longer than any other in history. Some (or all) of its tracks are in this puzzle: Eclipse (10a), Any Colour You Like (24a), Us and Them (25a), Brain Damage (1d), Time (2d), Breathe (16d) and of course The Great Gig in the Sky (15a). Good fun, and thanks Tramp. But I was truly bamboozled by the breast-implant clue.

I think rhotician is pointing out in a rather oblique way that FLOYD is spelt out down the right side of the grid.

re 11, I thought that the specials board offers special deals so you are asked to put the the anagram of MAIN in DEAL. Might be wrong though!

re BERI-BERI, Tramp has avoided the controversy you mention by the use of “damage” which would otherwise be unnecessary since BRI remain in the same order – the “an” is thus removed from an anagram of brain.

Flipping ‘eck, this is early! Thanks PeterO for a very comprehensive blog.

The explanations of AGGRESSING, BERI-BERI and INDIAN MEAL given above are correct. Thanks to all for the explanations. If something is “from specials board” it’s “in deal” — a little naughty perhaps, hence the question mark. The DD to GG in AGGRESSING is also a tad unfair, on reflection.

As PeterO says, this puzzle is a tribute to the Pink Floyd album, the Dark Side of the Moon and was written last year. I’d tried previously to write a themed puzzle that included all the song titles from the album, either in the grid or the clues. I repeatedly got stuck on the songs Any Colour You Like and the Great Gig in the Sky: in the end, I gave up. However, I did make a note of my clue for the album’s title. A few months later, when thumbing through the dictionary, I happened to see the word ‘acyl’ and I’d remembered seeing those initials when going through the options trying to include “Any Colour You Like” into a clue – I hadn’t realised it was a word. I figured the only way I could get the other problematic song title into the puzzle was to omit the definite article and write something around the initials “GGIS”; BIGGISH was the only word that came to mind. Having got BIGGISH and ACYL, I decided to fill a grid having placed FLOYDLP down the right-hand side.

When filling the grid, by serendipity, up popped the word ANASTIGMAT. After consulting Chambers, I saw it was a lens and I figured I could include in its clue the words ‘back of prism’ and try to evoke some (loose) picture of the cover of the album. The idea of colour coming out of the back of the prism is why I ran clues 23 and 24 together using ellipses: a bit contrived, I admit. When clueing TIME I noticed that the band’s record label, EMI, was in there so I used that in the clue.

For the record, as it were, the song titles on the album are all alluded to in the puzzle and are:

SPEAK TO ME
BREATHE
ON THE RUN
TIME
THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY
MONEY
US AND THEM
ANY COLOUR YOU LIKE
BRAIN DAMAGE
ECLIPSE

Incidentally, only this week, Qaos told us he had to clue a different word because another setter had used it recently (SECRET). The same thing happened to me in this puzzle; my original word at 22d was ANTHER which included ‘on the run’ in the clue. I couldn’t have this word as it had been used by Brummie in the previous day’s puzzle. The only way I could think of getting a word that fits in the grid and still include the song ‘on the run’ in the puzzle was to clue AS THEN.

I apologise if I misjudged the difficulty level – I wrote it thinking it could be a decent Prize puzzle. I also apologise if the “shoehorned” theme spoiled it for some. I was quite pleased with the end result.

Now for a gratuitous plug (if you are easily offended look away now): if anyone’s interested, I’ve been lucky enough to have a puzzle accepted by the Indy and it’ll be in next Tuesday.

I was initially disappointed to find I’d missed blogging a Tramp puzzle by one day but – and I never expected to say this – I’m glad I didn’t get this one, as I’d have failed miserably to do it justice. Funnily enough, I guessed the album immediately, from the enumeration, and waited for some crossers to confirm, but would have had no idea of the tracks contained in the clues – an extraordinary feat by Tramp, on a par with his first cryptic puzzle, which included the titles of every one of the Fawlty Towers episodes in either the clues or the answers. Those I did know, which was fortunate, as I was blogging it.

I managed to finish the puzzle in bed, without dictionaries, apart from 10ac [I didn’t know the second definition] but couldn’t explain TIME or AGGRESSING, so thanks, all, for those. I remarked to myself that there weren’t so many ‘story-telling’ clues as usual – now I know why[!] and what I’d thought was clever wordplay in so many instances turns out to be even more brilliant.

Many thanks, Tramp, and congratulations on the Indy – looking forward to it already!

[Several people responded to Qaos’ comment on his puzzle the other day, expressing surprise that a clue should be rejected because of a recent appearance. I’d like to add my twopennorth: it seems ridiculous that Tramp should have had to change a clue which was so essential to his theme – and I actually enjoy spotting coincidences like that!]

Fantastically enjoyable puzzle even with (as ever) the theme and nina totally wasted on me.

I think that’s a double plus – fun for those who know the theme and no detraction of enjoyment for those who don’t.

Well done Tramp – will look out for your INdy debut.

As for crossword editors insisting that words be changed because they’ve appeared recently – I can’t think of anything more pointless – especially if the cluing is different and doubly so if that particular word is key to a theme or link.

Tricky grid made this crossword no pushover for me. 2dn and 10ac gave me particular trouble and were the last in.

The cleverness of this puzzle went right over my head; although I spotted the album title with just a few crossing letters and (mirabile dictu!) even saw the Nina at the RHS, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to it and the track titles didn’t register at all. But that does explain the rather curious wording in some of the clues, which don’t all read quite as smoothly as Tramp’s usually do.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it a lot, which is a testament to this setter’s skill: a full appreciation of the theme is not necessary in order to find the puzzle a rewarding challenge.

Favourite clues: 11ac, 14ac, 1dn, 7dn. Only niggles were the ellipsis between 23ac and 24ac, which doesn’t read particularly well, and (chemist speaking) ACYL is strictly a radical and not a ‘compound’ per se, but there are very minor point.

Thanks also to PeterO; there is a typo in 6d, I think (M instead of N). I’m another one who signally failed to see the track titles and the NINA. I thought with the appearance of Star Wars and Jedi, there might have been another theme.

I can see the attraction of a theme for the setter; this one was well done, even if it was lost on me. Like Gervase @15, my last in were TIME and FELL, both of which I failed to parse properly. I enjoyed the BOG ART [Araucaria’s clue: ‘Film actor’s low standard painting?’] and OVERSTEP, once it had been explained to me.

What an excellent puzzle. Top marks to 15ac in particular, and of course to the inventive four-way interplay between theme, clues, solutions and nina. Large parts of this went over my head alas – not because I don’t know the album, which I do, but because multiple listenings back in the day failed to implant most of the track titles into my head.
Only minor gripe is 2d/10a … *I*E is always tricky. I got the EMI rev but the ‘fell’ in 10a was new to me. Oh and originally I had AUGMENTING for the breasts until I double checked the spelling of 23a.

Thank you for the puzzle, and for your thoughts on it. I would agree that 11A is “a little naughty”; my preference tends to more precisely indicated wordplay, although the general sense of the clue is sufficient to solve it, which is arguably enough. At one stage I did make a mental note to check if The Dark Side of the Moon were issued by EMI (in the UK, Harvest Records, an EMI label) but never got round to it. I will not “look away” – at least, until next Tuesday

Robi @16

The typo is now corrected. My keyboard is poorly illuminated, and I am not a touch typist (although, as you see, close!). Like you, the Nina passed me by, even with the ‘right’ prompt in 4/9/19.

Aoxomoxoa @14

I remember making a trawl for ‘time’ in the clues, and still did not spot it in 22D.

Thanks all
Recently I have become accustomed to some good stuff from this compiler and this was no disappointment.
Like Eileen (and others?) I solved 4,9,19 almost immediately from the enumeration and ‘the’.
I am not very adept at remembering LP titles but this one is so famous for its cover design and longevity that it sprang immediately to mind.
Although I have never heard it, knew none of the tracks and completely missed the theme and nina I still found it an enjoyable challenge.
Admired clues included 15ac and 13d (quite brilliant). Last in was ‘hide’. I failed to parse 22ac.
That’s four good uns this week – well done Guardian.

Yes all rather jolly and those who haven’t heard the album should at least try it once, you can always press stop if you can’t stand it.

Loved BOG ART!

No doubt the non-scientists in dictionary land wrongly think otherwise, but ACYL is not a compound, it is a functional group which may form part of a compound. It’s full name is the ACYL GROUP. It’s only independent existance is as an ion or a radical (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acyl).

I apologise to Gervase and Derek (and anyone else who knows their chemistry) about the use of ‘compound’. Despite working on a chemical plant, I don’t know any chemistry and guessed at a definition for ACYL from its entry in Chambers. In my defence though, there are bound to be words of a technical nature that I have to try to define from time to time and I’m bound to make these sorts of errors.

I suppose I could have defined it as “term in Chemistry …” or something.

Although Derek is correct if the use of the word compound is the one relating to chemistry.
However, in general use compound means items stuck together to make another item. In this sense acyl- is indeed compound.

Love it. Picked the theme right away (great gig in the sky too suggestive to my Floyd-obsessed mind). My only gripe is that there is a high frequency of odd vocab words. But as you say – it was planned as a Prize. Thanks both!

I’ll preface my thoughts on the puzzle by saying that I couldn’t get to it till late afternoon, and my crossword puzzle brain works much better in the morning, so perhaps I’m not doing it justice; but I found it a mixed bag. I saw the gateway clue straight away and guessed it from the enumeration, but the tracks on the album I couldn’t name, so I was struggling to get any help with the themed answers. Could I have gone online to find out? Yes. Did I? No.

So for me the puzzle was a mixture of some elegant and concise clueing, mixed in with some obscurities, but most of all some really meaningless surface readings, such as – for me anyway – 12ac, 15ac, 1dn, 18dn – but particularly 21dn. I am a visual thinker and learner, and like surfaces to give me a picture in my head in the subsidiary indication: ‘Set of nine regularly weaning elands’ did not give me any kind of picture at all.

As Peter says, this was quite an accomplishment, but perhaps from the setter’s rather than the solver’s point of view. So with thanks to Tramp anyway, this for me was indeed a bit of a ‘shoehorning’ exercise. But looking forward to the Indy puzzle.

I understand Peter and agree about some of the surfaces. Where I disagree is that there aren’t any “themed answers”. There are theme words shoehorned into some clues and that sometimes affects the surface but no knowledge of the theme is needed to solve the puzzle, provided you’ve heard of the album. Having got the album title, I don’t think you are at a disadvantage because you don’t know any of the songs. However, seeing “Great Gig in Sky”, for example, might help you get the album title quicker if you know the song.

As I said, I do understand about some of the surfaces. I hope you enjoy Tuesday’s more but I suspect you might not.

Having said some of the surfaces are weak I don’t think they are quite like Chomsky’s “colourless green ideas sleep furiously”.

Here are my thoughts:

15a paints a kind of story of AC/DC leaving the stage after a great gig,it being screened in HD on Sky and it’s quite comprehensive.
1d paints a loose picture of someone getting a condition having “dropped” two ecstasy tablets at home (inside)
21d a set of nine elands sitting in a field and regularly weaning; come to think of it, that’s daft!

This is turning out to be a rather strange puzzle.
As I said above I solved 4,9,19 without reading it. I saw album,I had ‘the’ and I think I spotted ‘ark’. I have now read it and there is,as I assumed earlier, no indication that it is a theme and none of the other clues refer to it so there was no need for me to go back and read it.
I then thoroughly enjoyed solving it. So in a sense Tramp is right,but so is KD when he calls it an ‘accomplishment for the setter’ rather than the solvers.

Derek
Glad I made you smile, better than a frown.I did say you were scientifically correct but that is obviously not quite enough for a perfectionist, like you.

I think of it like this, perfection is not ours to have, however correctness as best we know it is. If that correctness is hard to come by then by all means have some latitude. But if it is simply and freely available then it is pointless being anything less.

Just like others (eg RCW, with whom I seem to get more and more in common …. :)) I saw 4,9,19 straight from the enumeration. In a way that’s a shame but I still could appreciate this clue as the fodder contained – very clever – “hidden theme”, while “right?” gave us a nice bonus (only much later on).

TIME (2d) wasn’t a problem as I knew it was on TDSOTM.
By wanting to include so many fixed phrases (the songtitles) and by going for a Nina, one probably creates cluing restrictions that are not always very welcome (if you know what I mean).
But then still being capable of writing a gem like 15ac (BIGGISH) is surely quite a feat.

This was great stuff, Tramp.
You probably remember (well, I hope) that I told you last year in Derby that, in my opinion, “you are different” (from the mainstream), so I am happy to say that this crossword was another example to underline that.

What’s next? The Indy. You deserve it!
[and knowing what’s going on there, it will surely be a themed puzzle]

ps1,
for the second time this week a setter had to change a clue because of duplication – what a nonsense (I said a few days ago). This week, in the FT, we had two days in a row ‘bludgeon’ – did it infuriate me? Not at all.

ps2,
on the left hand side of the puzzle there’s BAD – that’s not part of the Nina, is it?

Incidentally, the original clue for 4, 9 , 19 didn’t comntain the word “album”: the definition was just “right?”. It was deemed way too hard for a daily puzzle. On reflection, I agree but my choice of “album” as a word to make the definition easier does give the game away somewhat.

As other commenters, I found the TDSOTM answer from the anagram and enumeration, but didn’t spot the hidden tracks from that album or the nina. As a long time enthusiast of 15sqd, I am always pleased to see the setter dropping in.

Thanks Tramp, PeterO and everyone for the puzzle and the blog. Like several others I started with the album title, but never saw the theme; so, and for by no means the first time, I got even more fun out of the blog that I did from the puzzle. It’s all helping to keep me entertained whilst I sit around waiting for a fractured fibula (fell in a hole orienteering) to mend.

Because I am unable to start the crossword until late evening, I have nothing new to add, but Tramp has certainly created a lot of interesting conversation – which is a compliment in itself. Not being a PF fan, I didn’t realise it was a theme & missed the nina – should have cottoned on since it was Tramp. Might we be getting wise to what to expect? Thanks to Peter O and Tramp (particularly for dropping in).

What a wonderful puzzle – only finished the last couple of these today – the two little stinkers up in the NW – and still managed to parse TIME wrongly – had the EMI but used T-money (the travel smart card) as the T and the definition as TENSE = TIME !!

Like others, I quickly got the main album name and thought that it was going to be over way to quickly – then went through the phase that this was more of a slog than the normally smooth surfaced clues that we normally expect – saw the Nina on the right hand side which helped me with the EMI finally but did not twig to the tracks in the clues (brilliant).

Parsed most of 15 right … but used BIG (great) [which would have been weakish] rather than AC/DC = BI [which was not !!] Couldn’t parse OVERSTEP and although worked with ADDRESSING and AGGRESSING could not perform the upgrade in my mind.

Fascinating. After reading this entire blog, I can’t even remember my feelings pro or con about this puzzle, I am just in awe.

TDSOTM came about mid way for me – I figured it was going to be the x y of the z pretty early though. Got off to a slow start. Never owned the album, but certainly knew of it, but only ever liked a couple tracks (Time and Money). Missed the song titles and the Nina, like most of us. Was delighted when I read about that achievement in the blog. I really like themes that don’t collapse a puzzle to “fill in the obvious blanks”, as I have said before. Too bad I missed this one!

I’m with everyone else on 15. Delightful clue!

So is Tramp one of the “young” up and coming setters? If so, I am glad. I love the nonagenarians and their work, but if this obsession is to be continued, we need new blood.

And it was really nice of Mr. T. to drop in and not only comment, but engage in the bloggers’ issues and comments! Isn’t this the third day in a row of this pleasure?

Minor minor minor quibble, since the song title is “The Great Gig in the Sky”, it’s not quite in the clue. But how on Earth to get away with “without articles” and still make it a legit clue?

As far as difficulty, this should have been swapped with the puzzle that followed it, but I certainly think that a hard puzzle on Friday is not out of place at all.

Congrats on the Indy gig, Tramp, and thanks for the puzzle; and thanks for the blog, PeterO!

Only managed to do this last night so have missed following this blog. Just wanted to say that I thought this was the best Tramp puzzle so far. Superb cluing and the theme is one of my favourite ever albums. The Nina elevated it even further.

Great stuff!

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